The education system in India is based on a three-tier model which includes primary schools at the first stage, followed by the secondary schools at stage 2, and then finally the tertiary level of education at the universities or other institutes of the same level.
Primary Education and Secondary education-
India has made steady progress in increasing the attainment rate of primary or elementary education. In 2011, approximately 75% of the Indian population aged between 7 to 10 years, was literate. India’s improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development and growth. Almost all the schools set up in the NCR region have an education system from class nursery to the 12th grade. Some of the prominent schools of Delhi are – DPS R.K Puram, Convent of Jesus & Mary, New Era Public School, etc. Most of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has been credited to various public institutions. While enrolment in higher education has been increasing steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross enrolment ratio of 24% in the year 2013, there still remains a significant distance to catch up with tertiary education levels of developed nations, a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue reaping a demographic dividend from India’s young population.
Tertiary Level of Education – The tertiary system of education includes the universities or other teaching institutions at the same level. In Delhi, there are five main central universities, seven important state universities, and 13 known deemed universities. Delhi also has an international university established by the eight member nations of South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The tertiary level has majorly two parts to it, one is the Undergraduate Level another is the Postgraduate level.
Now let’s talk about these two major categories-
Undergraduate level – Undergraduate education in India is of 3-4 years. Undergraduate stage of education is also known as secondary stage education in India. Students studying under this level, generally begin their education from 18 years of age. As per one estimate, 88% of undergraduate education is provided by the colleges in India. Majority of the undergraduate courses of 3 years duration belong to the field of humanities, science, commerce, etc., and a majority of 4-year duration courses belong to the field of agriculture, engineering, pharmaceutical sciences technology. However, there are other courses as well belonging to fields of architecture, law and medicine whose duration is 5 years.
Postgraduate level – Postgraduate education in India is of 2-3 years. Postgraduate stage of courses is also known as Masters courses or Doctorate courses. Masters course are usually for a period of 2 years and doctorate (research) courses are of 3 years duration. Also referred to as higher education, 56% of post-graduate education is imparted through colleges. PG education is largely provided by universities in India. PG education serves to cater largely to a specific field or subfield from any preferred or particular discipline. Thus, one can aim to specialise in any of the preferred subjects at this level. Those who are interested in conducting a large amount of research work pursue these courses.
Growing Awareness of education in India – The need and awareness of education in India has been increasing day by day, the government of India has taken ample steps to create awareness among the weaker sections of the society. Some of the government initiatives are-
• In August 2018, Innovation Cell and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) were launched to assess innovation efforts and encourage healthy competition among the higher educational institutions in the country.
• In August 2018, Government of India was successful in launching the second phase of ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ whose main aim was to link higher educational institutions in the country with at least five of the villages. The scheme covered 750 such institutions.
• The allotment of school education under the Union Budget of 2018-19 is expected to increase by 14 per cent, to focus on accelerating existing schemes and quality improvement.
• In order to boost the program of Skill India Mission, two new schemes namely, Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE), has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Government of India, with an outlay of Rs 6,655 crore (US$ 1.02 billion) and will be supported by the World Bank.
• The ‘Ek Bharat Shreshthaa Bharat’ (EBSB) campaign is undertaken by Ministry of Human Resource Development in order to increase the engagement between states, union territories, central ministries, educational institutions and the general public.
• Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi successfully launched the Skill India initiative – ‘Kaushal Bharat, Kushal Bharat’. Under the following initiative, the government has set itself a target of training about 400 million citizens by 2022 that would help them to find jobs. The initiatives which were launched included various programmes like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, Skill Loan scheme, and the National Skill Development Mission.
• In December 2018, the Government of India was successful had a total of 3.43 million candidates enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2016-20 scheme. Up to January 24, 2019, as many as 2.53 million candidates were being trained under the scheme of Short Term Training (STT).
